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Massive Multiplayer Online World Champion Crowned

The first Massive Multiplayer Online World Championships (MMOWC) concluded on December 15th in Miami Beach, Florida with former Swedish Counter Strike Champion Skalman beating U.S. Gamer Neomaven in a 90 minute head-to-head hunting event.

The MMOWC was hosted in Entropia Universe, attracting entries from online gamers all over the world, many from different games and virtual worlds including World of Warcraft and Second Life. Official sponsors included Entropia Universe and Entropia Forum, RealityPort.com, leading Danish accessory company Icemat, U.S.-based internet advertising agency AdDynamix, and voice server provider Vivox.

The two finalists were flown to Miami to compete in a filmed finale. Skalman, a Swedish Gamer with a long history of competitive gaming, stayed in the lead from the outset of the event. He said, "I've been eating macaroni for three years while building my avatar's skills and putting together top of the line equipment. I really feel like the MMOWC title is a receipt for all my hard work." Well respected in the Counter Strike tournament circuit and in Entropia Universe, Skalman was the 3-1 favorite. This was American Gamer Neomaven's first tournament and he had been preparing his avatar for less than 8 months.

The MMOWC is an independently owned and operated U.S.-based company that utilizes Entropia Universe's private virtual land ownership and fully automated Event System to create massive multiplayer tournaments.

"We are very impressed with the level of organization of this event and the overwhelmingly positive reaction from the Entropia Universe and online gaming community," said Marco Behrmann, MindArk's Chief Information Officer. "We are very pleased to announce that we will be sponsoring the 2007 Event and we have committed a land area with hunting and mining rights for the first prize. We are very pleased to see our FPS hunting system in Entropia Universe elevated to a sport and are glad that our automated event technology is being fully exploited by independent organizations."

The MMOWC is an event targeting gamers from all gaming platforms. AdDynamix CEO Benoit Pecqueur says, "The MMOWC is a very valuable global marketing platform for corporations looking to market their products to online gamers who are now one of the most sought after demographics. The Massive Multiplayer genre is the most immersive with gamers, easily spending upwards of 20 hours per week and years playing the same game."

Club NEVERDIE owner and celebrity gamer Jon "NEVERDIE" Jacobs says, "Entropia Universe provides the only platform capable of hosting an event of this scale that is managed and owned independently of the Developer. As it stands no other Massive Multiplayer Universe with a skill-based game engine currently offers the right kind of tools or the private ownership to its users to develop commercial events and business ventures."